Hat-finishing machine head having multiple working surfaces



July 16, 1968 I. BUSCH 3,392,889

HAT-FINISHING MACHINE HEAD HAVING MULTIPLE WORKING SURFACES Filed Nov. 21, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. /A I /A/6 BUSCH ATTORNEYS July 16, 1968 BUSCH HAT-FINISHING MACHINE HEAD HAVING MULTIPLE WORKING SURFACES Filed Nov. 21, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 25d g3 22 3/ f j 2512 x55 5 26b 24 I 29b 1 I r l llllllllllll IHHHHIIHI [ll 44 In, 6 1- III. 42

DWI i TOR. IRVING BUSCH Jim United States Patent 3,392,889 HAT-FINISHING MACHINE HEAD HAVING MULTIPLE WORKING SURFACES Irving Busch, 234-38 131st Ave., Laurelton, N.Y. Filed Nov. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 595,938 8 Claims. (Cl. 223-40) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hat-finishing machine with a pivotable working head having a plurality of working surfaces or assemblies. The working head has such multiple working surfaces, each having a different grade of abrasive or working material thereon, to permit one machine to perform the various hat-finishing functions rather than the plurality of machines required by the prior art. The various hat-finishing steps of ragging, pouncing, ironing and the like are achieved successively by the pivoting of the working head following each step, rather than by the transferring of a partially worked hat to a different machine.

This invention relates to hat-finishing equipment and more particularly, to hat-finishing machines having an operating head with multiple working surfaces thereon.

In the hat manufacturing and finishing industry, many separate steps are required to adequately prepare a hat for the commercial market. Thus, hats which are to be saleable must have fabrics with the proper smoothness, thickness, pliability, etc., depending upon the particular style and type of hat involved. These qualities are necessary for a commercially acceptable hat and they are usually achieved by the various finishing steps of ironing, pouncing, greasing and ragging as generally described in Busch et al. Patent No. 3,028,057, issued Apr. 3, 1962, which patent is incorporated herein by reference.

As indicated in the aforementioned Busch et al. patent, it has been found advantageous to use various hat finishing tools on a working head of a hat-finishing machine to perform each of the necessary steps referred to above. Thus, there would be a head with an ironing face which could then be covered over with a first hat-finishing tool to achieve the pouncing step, a second hat-finishing tool to achieve the greasing step, and separate tools for each of the other necessary steps. While the advance described in the Busch et al. patent was a significant improvement over the very laborious, time-consuming and costly procedures available theretofore, whereby the heads themselves had to be changed, it was still relatively cumbersome to make the various installations and transfers of batfinishing tools suggested therein. Accordingly, it was realized that even the manual replacement of hat-finishing tools for each of the finishing steps as generally described in the Busch et al. patent, was not only time-consuming, but it was also more costly and less effective than was desired.

It is therefore an object of this invention to furnish an improved hat-finishing machine head to obviate one or more of the aforesaid difiiculties.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hatfinishing machine with a universal head to perform all the necessary hat-finishing steps without replacement of equipment.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a hat-finishing machine head with plural working surfaces controlled by rotational and/ or indexing mechanisms to bring the multiple working faces into working orientation with a hat to be finished.

3,392,889 Patented July 16, 1968 In one particular illustrative embodiment of this invention, a hat is mounted on a hat-carrying structure rotatably controlled by a conventional clutch wheel which, as is usual in the art, is suitably motorized. Generally, the hat is mounted with the brim vertical, so that the crown of the hat can be brought into working relationship with the head mechanism to be described hereinbelow.

The working head itself can illustratively have four working surfaces or assemblies. This numerical choice is purely illustrative, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Each surface is for a different hat-finishing step, e.g., ironing, pouncing, ragging, greasing, etc. The vertical shaft on which the working head is mounted is arranged to be appropriately reciprocated from a lower reciprocating mechanism well known in the art. Moreover, the reciprocating motion of the working head is provided by having the shaft pass through an indexing disc or gear drive Wheel which controls the rotational motion (e.g., of the shaft and working head subsequent to each working step. As the hat itself rotates, each working head surface can achieve its particular hatfinishing function as to all of the exposed surface area of the hat crown, each such function occurring in a generally conventional manner. It may desirable to protect the downward projecting portion of the reciprocating shaft by covering it, for example, with a shielding cone which may be suitably split or seamed to permit convenient removal for maintenance and repair of the shaft mechanism. Moreover, the various hat-finishing materials for each of the various steps can be replaced, as described below, by the removal of the shielding cone.

The working head itself can have, as previously indicated, four illustrative working surfaces or assemblies. For each such assembly, there can be an underlying resilient pad backing to permit at least some give in the particular step involved as the hat surface comes into contact with that working head face. Hat-finishing material is supplied from a bobbin individual to each of the several working head surfaces. The bobbin, which can be conveniently mounted on the indexing disc covered by the shielding cone, provides a feed of the particular hat-finishing material, such as sandpaper and cloth of various abrasive degrees in the pouncing and ragging steps, which material is transported through appropriate rollers and over an upwardly projecting curved shoulder down in front of the resilient backing of the working head surface or assembly. By drawing the end of the material down through guiding rollers, the particular fed material can be made to remain in contact with the resilient backing for best results during the hat-finishing step.

Each hat-finishing step takes place when a given working head surface is brought into cont-act with the rotating hat. The shaft on which the working head is mounted is subject to the previously mentioned oscillatory motion, and at the same time is controlled by a conventional turning motor to swing the head around the hat to provide full working coverage of the exposed surface area of the hat, and also 'by an indexing motor to turn the head on its own axis whenever a new working face is required. When the full surface area of the hat has been treated by the appropriate working material, the turning or indexing mechanism can be arranged, as is presently well known in the art, to swing out so that the working head surface and the hat surface are disengaged from each other. At this time, the indexing mechanism can be arranged to rotate the working head and accordingly present another working head surface to the hat. The mechanism then causes re-engagement of the hat surface and the new working head surface, and the second and subsequent steps in the hat-finishing process can occur.

It is therefore a feature of an embodiment of this invention that a working head of a hat-finishing machine has multiple surfaces to present to the hat material to achieve a variety of hat-finishing steps.

It is a further feature of an embodiment of this invention that a working head is positioned with various faces in successive alignment with a rotatable and mounted hat to perform a variety of hat-finishing steps.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but none theless illustrative embodiment demonstrating objects and features of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a hat-finishing machine having a working head in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the working head and its related mechanisms, taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the feeding roller arrangement, taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows.

The general hat-finishing machine illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an upper housing 12 which can include, in a conventional manner, typical hat-driving structure. Such structure performs the well-known rotation of the hatmounting shaft 16, on which hat 18, with brim 18a and crown 18b, is mounted. This rotation may be somewhat eccentric, as is well known in the art.

Similarly, conventional lower housing 14 can include reciprocating or vibrating mechanisms (not shown but see above-identified Busch et a1. patent) to provide appropriate oscillatory motion for the hat working head 22 of the present invention. In addition, well-known apparatus (not shown) within housing 14 provides for the relatively slow turning of the working head 22 around the hat crown 1812, as well as for the usual swing out of the head 22 at the end of each working cycle. As indicated in FIG. 1, the working head 22 has multiple assemblies 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d; the latter two assemblies are not completely visible in FIG. 1. Shaft 40 which is shown projecting downward into the cavity 38 of the housing 14 receives the working head 22 thereon by means of generally square mounting hole 23. While each of the working assemblies provides different material individual to the particular step involved, the description herein will be confined to working assembly 22b, the description generally applied in the same manner to the other three assemblies indicated. Thus, working assembly 22b of the head 22 includes a resilient pad 24b mounted on a supporting base 29b to allow some degree of flexibility of movement of the working surface material when it is in contact with the hat 18. This occurs following a 180 rotation from that shown in FIG. 1.

If it is assumed that the working assembly 22b is utilized for the pouncing step, the working surface material 26b may illustratively be sandpaper of a suitable degree of abrasiveness. Considering FIGS. 1 and 2 together, it is noted that the abrasive material 2617 is fed to the working assembly 22b from a lower enclosed bobbin 27b. The Working material passes upward from the bobbin within the shielding cone 36, through feeding rollers 30 and 32 and up over curved shoulder b. The material is also transported through a compartment formed by two of diagonal support members 31 and the rear of support base 2%. In order to arrange the material 26b in proper alignment with respect to the resilient backing member 24b, the material is conveniently pulled down through rollers and 28 whereby it is in contact with resilient member 241). Moreover, as the working surface material 2612 is used up, e.g., as the sandpaper loses its abrasive effectiveness, it can be pulled down through the rollers 30 and 28, and cut off at a suitable lower point (not shown) and discarded. To prevent bunching of working material, central roller 30, which may be suitably driven can be locked during the actual working cycles. The relationship of feeding and discharge of the material 26b with respect to the rollers 28, 30 and 32 is also seen in the sectional view of FIG. 3.

A typical step in the hat-finishing cycle, such step being shown in general in 'FIG. 1, initially involves the activation of the hat rotation mechanism; reference may be made to the corresponding structure of the Busch et a1. patent, supra, which can be appropriately motorized. This mechanism is located within the housing 12, and may illustratively be activated by the throwing of illustrative toggle switch 2% (FIG. 1). Then, assuming a particular sequence of hat-finishing steps is desired, typically ironing, pouncing, greasing and then ragging, the appropriate selection of working assembly is made, e.g., working surface 2212. At that time the reciprocating mechanism (not shown, but generally conventional) is activated by the throwing of illustrative toggle switch 26b. Appropriate reciprocation of the shaft 40 causes corresponding reciprocal movement of the mounted working head 22. In addition, generally conventional apparatus controls the turning or traversing movement of the head 22 around the hat 18 as described below. Finally, following each working cycle, the energization of indexing motor 42 causes pinion 44 to rotate at a constant speed. This in turn causes indexing disc 46, which is in meshing engagement with the pinion 44, to achieve its rotational movement whereby the working head 22 turns around its own axis to present a new working surface.

While various turning or traverse cycles are possible, it is generally desirable to have the working surface begin at the center of the hat and follow a first traverse movement to the junction of the brim 18a and the crown 18b. Followin this movement, the working head 22 returns to its initial position (see FIG. 1), at which time the swing out step occurs whereby the working head 22 moves rearwardly away from the hat 18. When the swing out has occurred, the rotation of shaft 40 takes place, under the control of indexing motor 42, thereby presenting a different working surface or assembly of head 22 to the hat. Accordingly, following the re-engagement of the new working surface and the exposed area of the hat, the next hat-finishing step can take place. These movements are completely flexible within the present invention, and this flexibility will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Thus, the complete range of hat-finishing steps is achieved by the use of the present invention without the need for exchanging various working heads, each having a particular working surface or assembly, and in addition, no supplementary hat-finishing tools or equipment need to be added to achieve this wide variety of functional control. Moreover, by removal of the shielding cone 38, e.g., at seam 36 in FIG. 1, suitable bobbin changes can be made so that when a particular working surface material has been exhausted, a new supply can be added to the bobbin, which, when threaded through the rollers 28, 30 and 32, presents a fresh supply of material for the particular working surface. Efficient hat-finishing in accordance with this invention can then continue.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for finishing a hat, a control shaft having an upwardly extending portion substantially opposite said hat to be finished, an operating head mounted on said upward extending portion of said control shaft and having at least two working assemblies thereon, feeding means adapted to feed a hat-working material to each of said assemblies for respective hat-finishing cycles, means for reciprocating said operating head with respect to said hat whereby each of said hat-working materials is brought into contact with said hat, means for controlling a turning movement of said control shaft and said operating head around said hat and indexing means operative at the termination of each of said hat-finishing cycles for rotating said control shaft to present an additional one of said working assemblies to said hat whereby additional finishing thereof can be initiated.

2. A machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for controlling a turning movement includes means for disengaging said operating head from said hat subsequent to each of said hat-finishing cycles and wherein said feeding means includes a respective bobbin for each of said working assemblies, each of said bobbins carrying thereon a supply of the corresponding one of said hat-working materials and respective groups of cooperating rollers to control the feed of said hat-working materials to each of said working assemblies and to control the discharge of said hat-working materials from each of said working assemblies.

3. A machine in accordance with claim 2 including in addition a shielding cone removably surrounding the portion of said control shaft below said rollers to protectively enclose said bobbins and the feed therefrom to each of said groups of cooperating rollers, said cone having a surface seam for removal thereof for inspection and maintenance.

4. A machine in accordance with claim 2 wherein said cooperating rollers include a centrally disposed drive roller and two side idling rollers each spaced from said drive roller such that said hat-working materials can be fed to said working assemblies between a first of said idling rollers and said drive roller and can be discharged from said working assemblies between a second of said idling rollers and said drive roller.

5. A machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said indexing means includes a motor having a projecting drive member, an indexing disc coupled to said control shaft and in meshing engagement with said projecting drive member whereby the activation of said motor causes a rotational movement of said control shaft to present additional ones of said working assemblies to said hat.

6. A machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said working head includes for each of said working assemblies an inelastic backing, a resilient pad mounted on said backing and a shoulder projecting upward and outward from said backing to guide the feed of said hat-working materials to respective ones of said working assemblies, said resilient pad underlying said hat-working materials when said hat-working materials are presented in confronting relation to said hat during each of said cycles.

7. A working head for a hat-finishing machine comprising a plurality of working assemblies each for performing individual hat-finishing steps with corresponding hatfinishing materials, each of said working assemblies including a support base, a resilient pad mounted on said support base and a shoulder element rigid with said support base to accurately transport each of said hat-finishing materials from behind said support base into a hatworking position whereby said hat-finishing material is substantially flush with said resilient pad.

8. A working head in accordance with claim 7 having four of said working assemblies, and including in addition a centrally disposed aperture through said head adapted to permit the mounting of said head on a control shaft and support members extending from said aperture to the junction of each of said working assemblies, whereby transport compartments for each of said hat-finishing materials are formed bounded by two of said support members and the rear of said support base.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,950,102 3/1934 Eichenbaum 223-21 X 2,694,513 11/ 1954 Marindin 223-20 2,817,467 12/1957 Atwood 223-20 3,028,057 4/1962 Busch et al. 223-20 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. G. V. LARKIN, Examiner. 

